Tim Cook Explains Why the iPad Has a Bright Future

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Tim Cook Explains Why the iPad Has a Bright Future

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While the iPad has represented just 13% of the company’s sales last quarter, Apple CEO Tim Cook continues to make an upbeat case for the world’s most popular tablet. An interesting article by Quartz explains just how Cook explains “in his own words” why the iPad has a right future.“I know there’s a lot of negative commentary in the markets on this, but I have a little different perspective on it,” said Cook during yesterday’s Apple earnings call.

Cook said that instead of looking at the iPad sales each 90 days, “if you back up and look at it, we’ve sold 237 million in just over four years”. That’s about twice the number of iPhones that Apple has sold over the first four years of iPhone. Cook also blamed factors like “market saturation” and “slower -than-anticipated replacement cycles” as some of the major reasons for iPad’s sales decline in the most recent quarter.

“What you do see is that people hold onto their iPads longer than they do a phone. And because we’ve only been in this business four years, we don’t really know what the upgrade cycle will be for people. So that’s a difficult thing to call.”

“I’m sure that some people looked at a Mac and an iPad and decided on a Mac. I don’t have research to demonstrate that, but I’m sure of that just looking at the numbers. And I’m fine with that, by the way. I’m sure that some people will look at an iPad and an iPhone and decide just to get an iPhone. And I’m fine with that, as well.”

He concluded his explanation with these remarks, “Over the long arc of time, my own judgment is that iPad has a great future. How the individual 90-day clicks work out, I don’t know. But I’m very bullish on where we can take iPad over time.”

I totally agree that majority of people, including myself, hold onto their iPads longer than they do a phone, which in my personal opinion, is the one biggest factor in declining iPad sales in the recent few months. What do you say?